Senator Okiyah Omtatah has requested copies of contracts and more information regarding Kenya’s recent shift to petroleum imports under a government-to-government arrangement he says is opaque and causing price spikes.
In a letter on Thursday to the Cabinet Secretaries for Energy and the National Treasury, Omtatah cites March media reports that Kenya had signed deals with UAE’s ADNOC and Saudi Aramco for fuel imports with six-month credit terms in a bid to ease dollar shortages that have weakened the shilling.
But Omtatah said the arrangements signed March 10 lack transparency and violate the constitution’s call for fair, equitable and competitive procurement.
“Prices of petroleum products were fixed on the open market and were reasonably stable. But now with these opaque agreements under the ‘Government-to-Government Arrangement,’ the prices have gone through the roof,” Omtatah wrote.
He requested copies of the Master Framework Agreements signed with Aramco, ADNOC, Global Trading Limited and Emirates National Oil Company.
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The senator said Kenya previously operated an “Open Tender System” where companies competed to import fuel. Under the new deals, costs per barrel landed at Kenya’s Kilindini port have doubled to $120, Omtatah wrote.
“Why the average landed cost at Kilindini in US dollars per barrel was 60 US Dollars under the Open Tender System in the six months immediately preceding importation under the Government-to-Government Arrangement, but it shot up to 120 US Dollars under the Government-to-Goverment Agreement?” Omtatah asked.
Omtatah said the shift to sole-source procurement violates Article 227 of Kenya’s constitution on fair and transparent contracting.
“It goes without saying that, where the State and/or its agencies or a person holds information whose release and publication would benefit the public, a public interest is created which trumps the privacy or the confidentiality of the information,” he wrote.
The senator requested the government provide detailed answers to avoid him taking legal action.
“Kindly, note that failure to supply the information as requested will necessitate recourse to the Constitutional Court, at your risk as to costs. for orders regarding access to the requested information,” he wrote.
Omtatah has previously challenged government actions in court, including attempts earlier this year to raise fuel prices and taxes that courts blocked.
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